Atonement
by Izzu
Summary: AU. The new life they had did not seem so bad. Yumehito had mostly recovered and living a new life. But a new case that was reminiscent of their painful past threatened to destroy the small piece of life they had. Could this be... an atonement?
1. Time Twist

az: Another multi-chapter. Using the Hope AU universe. Yeah I know, I am silly like that.

* * *

Atonement

Chapter 1: Time twist

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

A man stood nervously at the edge of the platform as citizens of the city bustle around towards their destination. He glanced towards the direction of the empty railway, wondering when the next train would arrive. Before he could have a chance to back off, he heard the sound of the approaching train. Without hesitation, he took a flying leap forward—to the alarm of the people at the platform—as the man closed his eyes, welcoming the approaching vehicle that could take him to the next world...

xxx

Time can do a lot of amazing things, Ainosuke realized. Without realizing, his older brother's health got better and he managed to regain most of his physical abilities. It had been a slow process, but somehow it gave some good result. Not something that he would shove aside. The only thing that has not changed, was the fact that his brother still had not been able to remember anything of the past.

He knew that he should have been grateful. After all, his brother was still alive. Something this small shouldn't matter... but he couldn't help it. As much as he still loved his brother, the brother that was with him right now... was more of a stranger than someone who used to be so close to him. It was slightly selfish, he knew. He couldn't help himself being a selfish human to ask for something more despite already getting a piece of a wish.

It was simply human.

Ainosuke sighed as he walked out of the compounds of the Kisaragi Junior High, before sighing in content. Brother wouldn't be home so soon, so he should have a bit of time at home to figure out what to make for dinner. Miruku-san also shouldn't be too busy either, so he might just ask her for help. The three of them did somehow end up being like a family now...

xxx

Ainosuke parked his bike at the side before jumping in alarm to see his brother waiting for him. Yumehito grinned.

"What? Surprised to see me?"

For a moment Ainosuke thought that his old brother had suddenly reappeared before him, seeing the coy expression that his brother was showing him. But that feeling immediately passed as he realized that it was only his wishful thinking. It can't be that easy...

Yume cocked his head at him.

"What's the problem? Oh... I've been reassigned into the investigations department, that's why I've got the day off."

Ainosuke blinked at him, before sighing. He almost forgot that small arrangement he had made with Kato-san, months before. Because they had a hard time deciding what to do about his brother, when he had insisted to finding a job himself and not wanting Ainosuke to bear the burden alone. Though in his situation, it got a bit tricky.

Somehow, at some point... Kato-san had suggested for his brother to reapply for the police academy to become a police again. After all, even if it had been a false guise for him in the past... his brother used to be a detective before. And in a way, this was a kind of atonement his brother could do for his past sins. Somehow, he had to wonder what kind of strings that Kato-san had manage to pull to allow that to happen.

Ainosuke smiled.

"So, should I call _niichan_... Tanaka-_keiji_ after this?"

His brother grinned at him before pinching his cheeks.

"Don't be cheeky. Anyway... I was assigned to be Kato's partner."

Ainosuke glanced back towards his brother as he noticed him frowning. "What—"

"Somehow... I wonder why that felt familiar..."

Trying not to appear alarmed, Ainosuke ushered his brother back inside the apartment as he started talking about how they should celebrate his brother's promotion...

xxx

Kato smiled at him as he went to pick up Yumehito from their apartment. He and Ainosuke exchanged greetings before he watched them leave. Relieved that everything had turned out to be just fine, Ainosuke went back inside as he cleaned up Oyasan's shrine before preparing to go to school.

Without warning, he accidentally knocked down the name plate as he hastily picked it back up. His heart suddenly raced.

Hopefully that was not a sign for bad things to come...


	2. House of Cards

az: I call myself silly because I still had TONS of unfinished stories yet I'm starting a new one. My muses are fickle-minded. And my heart raced, read till the end to find out.

* * *

Atonement

Chapter 2: House of Cards

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

"How's this for your first assignment!?"

Yume jumped as he turned his attention towards his partner, who had suddenly slapped his back the moment he took his seat. He shrugged nervously at him before turning his attention towards the other detectives who had entered the meeting room to take their place. He turned his attention towards the centre of the room as the current head of the investigation group, Detective Ishikawa Saburo stepped up and introduced himself.

The man pulled out his folder as his assistant put up the charts behind him.

"The victim for today's case was Kamata Juushiro-san. Aged 47, just a normal salary-man and was now hospitalized for minor injury. Yesterday, for some reason Kamata-san had jumped onto the rail-road tracks at Tamachi station; just as the next train was approaching that stop. Luckily the train operator had acted quickly and he managed to stop the train before it hit him. Now, this case was handed to us."

Kato glanced towards Yumehito as he was frowning while hearing about the details before another officer raised his hand to ask.

"Was there something more about this case, sir? Suicides usually do not fall into this group's department so why—?"

Ishikawa nodded his head at that question as he continued.

"Yes, you are correct on that one. There was actually more to this case aside from Kamata-san's attempted suicide."

He turned around as his assistant put up another slide.

"Not long ago, just a few days... Kamata-san had received a notice from an unknown person right after he went back from work. Unlike usual, he was not being greeted by his two sons as soon as he got home. That was when he gets suspicious and later found the note. It was written that the sons were being kidnapped and Kamata-san was asked to prepare an amount of 900 thousand yen as ransom to be paid in a week's time. There was no mention of what could happen to the two kids if the demands were not met but we should expect that it would not be good—"

Kato turned his attention again towards Yumehito as he heard some sounds, before noticing how pale he had looked. He frowned as he noticed that Yume had been sweating profusely despite the air-conditioned room.

"Sa—Tanaka? Is something wrong? Did you need—"

Yume just winced away from his touch as he stood up. He bowed apologetically towards the rest of the officers for disrupting the meeting as he excused himself.

"Sorry, I don't feel well suddenly."

Kato turned around towards his partner while contemplating his last words earlier. Concerns overriding his normal decision, it was several minutes later before Kato too... excused himself from the meeting.

xxx

Kato frowned as he looked around to find no trace of his partner. Yume was not anywhere near the wash-rooms or even at his cubicle! Where would he be—Kato finally spotted him kneeling on the floor, along one of the corridors at the station as he rushed to his side.

"Tanaka... what's wrong with you?"

Yume didn't answer him as he continued clutching the side of his head painfully. Kato bit his lips as he pondered about what to do. But just as he was looking around to see if he could ask anyone to bring him a glass of water for Yume, he overheard his partner muttering something under his breath. He frowned as he knelt closer to hear better.

"..._stop it! I don't... enough! It's not the same... Shut up! Leave me alone...!"_

Just when he tried to figure out what was it that Yume had been talking about, the man suddenly got up and move away quickly from Kato's side. It stunned him for a second as he watched Yumehito hit his head repeatedly against the wall before he too, rose to try stopping the man from hurting himself.

"Stop that! Tanaka-san!"

xxx

They had just finished with their second class for the day as Ainosuke started taking away his books from the table before suddenly feeling that all too familiar tingling on his left eye. He gasped as he was taken aback by this unexpected occurrence. It had been a while since he had seen anything through his left eye, and most of the criminal acts by his brother had already been solved—so why? Suddenly Ainosuke's heart turned cold as he thought of his older brother. Did something happened to him?

Not wanting to lose anymore time, Ainosuke dashed out of the class as he ran towards the direction of the nurse's office.

xxx

"Sensei! It came!"

Sayama Hitomi jumped as she turned to find Ainosuke at the door, looking very alarmed.

"Sensei! Punch me please!" he exclaimed again before she could ask what had happened to him. She rose.

"Eh? Why—Ainosuke, what happened? Did the left eye—but you brother was not involved in crime anymore—"

"—who cares about that, just hit me alread—!"

Before he could finish, Hitomi had punched him squarely on the right side of his face; sending Ainosuke onto the floor as the image flashed into his left eye. Ainosuke gasped as he recognized the images...

Hitomi hurriedly pulled Ainosuke back on his feet as she ushered him back on the couch.

"What is it? Did you see something?"

Ainosuke stared back at her, equally dumbfounded.

"I did... but it doesn't make sense!"

It really didn't. The scenes that he saw were not something new. It was something that he had seen before... and more.

Ikeuchi Kazuya.

The sight of the Ikeuchi brothers taking him away...

Ikeuchi Tomoya's face when the young man had threatened to kill him... only that it was not from his line of sight. The images that _his brother _have seen!

As soon as the realization kicked in, Ainosuke hastily took out his phone. Only that the phone had already rang before he could have a chance to dial anything.

It was Kato-san!

xxx

Ainosuke and Sayama-sensei dashed across the hall as Kato greeted them. Immediately Ainosuke grabbed his arm to ask about the matter.

"How is he? How's my brother?" he asked as Kato shrugged.

"His injury was not that bad, despite he did pass out after that. It really caught me off-guard, seeing him suddenly trying to break his head on the wall."

Ainosuke paled after hearing that explanation as Kato lead the two of them towards Yumehito's room. To their surprise, he was already awake and sitting up. He had only been staring out onto space before their arrivals caught his attention. Kato sighed.

"Ah, Tanaka... you should have called out earlier if you're awake. I could have brought Ainosuke earli—"

"Are you an idiot?"

Kato immediately stopped mid-sentence as Yume turned his head towards them, before his eyes swerved towards Ainosuke.

"Are you an idiot?"

Ainosuke did not reply as that made him angrier.

"I ASK YOU, ARE YOU AN IDIOT? AINOSUKE!"

Ainosuke let out a gasp as Yume's angry glare bore onto him.

"You should have let me die. It was better that way."


	3. Ice Castle

az: Updates gonna be slow, until I figure out how the case gonna develop.

* * *

Atonement

Chapter 3: Ice Castle

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

_"Nii...chan?"_

Yume's expression became even stonier as he heard that endearment. He sighed.

"You _are_ an idiot then."

"Oi, Tanaka! Wasn't that a bit harsh—"

Yume turned his attention towards Kato as he sneered at him.

"You're better off calling me Sakisaka, you know? It sounded awkward hearing you addressing me by my real surname."

Ainosuke stepped a bit more closer towards him as Yumehito glanced back towards his younger brother.

"You remembered?"

Yume gave him a look of disbelief.

"After cracking my head earlier, it would be a miracle if I _had NOT_ remembered anything; don't you think? Tell me, Ainosuke... did you like to suffer so much?"

Hitomi gave a cry as she finally spoke.

"That's cruel, _oniisan!_ Ainosuke... really loved you so much and had always taken care of you while you've lost your memory! How could you say it like that just when Ainosuke had done so much—"

He just shrugged her off lightly over his shoulder.

"—that's what I'm saying. The best thing that _that_ kid could get, was that if I should live and continue living by his side. But Ainosuke would not be happy if I continued being my amnesiac self. The irony," he said as he rolled his eyes at them. "Then again... if I would regain my memories, don't you realize _sensei_... that _I'll_ be unhappy?"

Hitomi found herself tongue-tied from that reply as she glanced helplessly at Ainosuke.

"Why did you say things like that? _Niichan? _Why did you always like to say cruel things like that? Don't you care about me?"

Yume glanced towards him.

"You're better off living happily without me—"

"How can you decide on something like that?"

Ainosuke cried again as he lunged towards his older brother, wrapping his arms around his body. A stray tear streaked across his cheeks as Yumehito remained expressionless.

"See? Because of me you've cried again. You even managed to force a tear out of my eye, despite it had been years since I did." He glanced up towards the clock on the wall before sighing. "You should really return to school now."

He chuckled softly as Ainosuke continued sobbing on his shoulders. He sighed as he reluctantly lifted his hand to pat his brother's back.

"Why were you such a hopeless idiot, Ainosuke? Did I teach you wrongly in the past?"

xxx

Yumehito glanced towards the door as Kato closed it behind him.

"They've left?" he asked as Kato nodded at him.

"So you did regain all of your memories?"

Yume lifted one brow at him before shrugging.

"Yes. Just when I thought it would have been nice if I get to forget all of it, this time. It just proved that regardless of the situation I'm in, I will never be able to completely forget that _day_. Hitting my head to stop the memory from overflowing did not help keeping it away, it just strengthened it."

He leered towards Kato again as he noticed his puzzled face.

"I figured you would ask, sooner or later. And you as well. Did _you_ get so influenced by my brother that you _also_ got infected by his stupidity? Why did you allow me to rejoining the ranks, even more becoming your partner again?"

Kato shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess I got so used to having you as a partner; I wouldn't want anyone else filling that position. And I still think that you were a decent cop. Even after all that you've done... I can't help noticing that you did have that quality inside you. There must be a reason why Miyamoto-san had followed you before, isn't it?"

Yumehito snorted as Kato sighed.

"But honestly... you really _are_ related to that kid. Seeing how you've tried to smash your head into the wall, I couldn't help remembering how Ainosuke had tried to do the same when we found out about Fukuchi-san's death."

He heard his partner chuckled as he continued. "So tell me, what did you mean about _that day?_"

Yume leered at him. "Ainosuke didn't tell you?" he asked as Kato shook his head. "It was similar... you know? Not the part about Kamata trying to off himself. But yeah... it was a bit similar. This case was almost similar to the one that happened to both of us, eight and a half years ago."

Kato blinked.

"_That_ case? But I thought it was just a simple kidnapping case gone wrong."

Yume snorted again.

"It was quite similar," he said before asking Kato back. "Did you know where that stupid father was hospitalized?

Kato nodded. "His room was somewhere several floors above us."

Yumehito nodded his head at that as he put on his overcoat and slippers.

"Come on. Seeing that you knew about that, means we're still on this case and I want to confront this idiotic man myself."

xxx

The two instantly locked glares the moment they saw each other. Kato had to wonder if them coming here was to interview the victim or something else. It _was_ weird to see two injured men glaring at each other to death, locked in some kind of invisible battle after all.

"You know... normally I would have decided to see you for your statements _later_. But I'm seeing you now because I felt like it. Your statement will come later. Right now I just wanted to tell you how utterly stupid and reckless father you are."

Kato sighed. That explained everything...WHAT?

Kamata glared back towards Yume.

"Is that all you wanted to say, _Keiji-san?_ Such a brash officer you are. How could you even understand—"

"Oh... I understand your situation too well. Did you know why I called you stupid?"

Yumehito bit his lips as he glared at the man. "Do you think killing yourself would save your children? If you're dead, then who's the bastard who would get that money to save them? How could you even be so reckless to not think before you act? If you're dead, who else going to save your children? Who would take care of them after that? How could you not think about your own life as well?"

Kamata was about to say something to his defence before noticing the tears in Yume's eyes.

"Don't you ever think... how would your children feel if you had died, without even saving them first?"

Yumehito hastily wiped the tears off his face as he turned around and left the room, while the two remaining people stared at his back blankly. Kato hastily excused himself as he went after him.

xxx

Kato found him sitting by himself on the stairs, trying his hardest not to burst into tears again. Yume started talking as he sensed that Kato was nearby. He chuckled sarcastically.

"What kind of joke was this? Is life playing a trick on me?"

Kato sat beside him as he finally got a good look at Yumehito's face. The man did not appear as angry as he had been earlier. Instead, his partner had looked most saddened. In the months when they used to be working together as partners, this was the first time he had seen him looking so sad. This was Sakisaka's—no, Yumehito's true face.

"Is this how Karma tries to show me a way for me to atone for my actions? Don't joke around with me."

"Isn't it good? It proved that god had not abandoned _you_ in his grand scheme..."

Yume leered towards him as if he had just sprouted wings on his head.

"Are you really an idiot? Did you like me so much as your partner?"

Kato grinned at him sheepishly. He placed a hand on his shoulder as he shrugged.

"I'm not really too fond of changing partners that much."

Yume snorted.

"Did you think, I was _supposed_ to save them now? In order to atone to my sins?", he asked as Kato laughed.

"What do _you_ think then?"


	4. Fragile Hearts

az: Hopefully I can get the emotions right.

* * *

Atonement

Chapter 4: Fragile Hearts

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

_"You really had that case closed, isn't it?"_

_"Of course... it's not like I could charge you for any of the murders that happened during those times, or imprison you as a crime planner when you've lost your memory like that. You've been in coma for three months! Even we... cannot be unreasonable enough to insist such punishment to you in that kind of situation."_

_Yumehito laughed._

_"There's those loopholes, huh? Since the only ones that I actually killed with my own hands was that man and Kokusho Akira. And even if you could try charging me using the files in my computer, I don't think our courts could do much about it. If I had a good lawyer to defend me, I'd just slip away freely."_

_"... Come to think, you could still charge me because I killed Kokusho, and even if the murder of Ikeuchi Tomoya was never treated as such, it was still murder. There was no self-defense at that time. As it is, the statute had still not run out yet... isn't it?"_

_"You... you really wanted to punish yourself, didn't you?"_

_The man sighed._

_"I thought that was obvious from the very beginning..."_

xxx

Kato thought it had been so simple... but somehow, the more he continued to press on; the more he got trapped inside the enigma that was Tanaka Yumehito. As expected, that guy was not so easy to understand... wasn't he?

That person... from the very beginning, did he want to punish himself so much?

He sighed as he opened the case folders to read. They had the odds against them since it was already the third day the children had been kidnapped. It meant that they still had four more days until the day the ransom should be collected. But well, at least they still had a bit more time...

Kato took a peek at some of the reports that had been gathered. It appeared that there wasn't anything much to be found. Kamata was only one among many employees in his company, there was nothing special about him that indicated any reason why would his family be targeted or of any foul play. He's a single parent, with two kids; his wife had passed away two years ago due to an illness. It's a typical family background. Nothing much—Kato frowned, it seemed that Kamata-san had been in some kind of financial crisis lately. Could this be related?

He hurriedly called out towards another officer to help him investigate something before he turned his attention back towards the case files. Perhaps those cases in the past had somehow affected him a lot or Yumehito's personality had rubbed on him a bit. He found that he finally got the hang over these detectives stuffs... or what Yumehito had once told him; the scientifical way in analysing how criminal minds worked. He shrugged. He better inform his partner about what he found out and ask for his opinions as well as asking his other team members. He had somehow promised to Yumehito that he would inform him on any progress on the case. In return, he would stay put and rest.

It was a bit funny now, seeing Tanaka Yumehito being very enthusiastic about solving a case while not being the one who planned the crime and pretending to be at the side of the police. Guess that guy really still had a strong sense of justice, like his younger brother—regardless how much he would deny that he had ever retain any kind of good conscience left inside of him.

xxx

_"You should have let me die. "_

Ainosuke paused as he felt another stab of pain in his heart when he recalled his brother's words. Indeed, his brother had wanted to die. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have stayed at that building... even if to watch his 'domino play' when he had been bleeding non-stop because of the shot he received that time.

If he hadn't gone back there, his brother would have just die on that couch.

Ainosuke wiped away his tears again as he slowly approached the road leading to his apartment. It was his fault, everything was his fault. Because of him, his brother had to kill that person to protect him. Because of him, his brother had done many unforgivable things—because he could not directly hurt him.

If only he had not been born, his brother would not have suffered like this...

Ainosuke glanced up as Miruku-san hurried towards him the moment she saw him approaching the apartment. He stared at her, puzzled as she started chattering away rapidly.

"What happened to your brother? The gash looked so bad... I really thought something bad had happened but he said it was nothing—"

"Brother was home?" he asked in surprise as she nodded, explaining that Kato had sent him back after the hospital had cleared Yume out. He frowned before setting aside his bicycle hurriedly to see his brother.

xxx

Both of them had moved to another room inside the apartment, slightly bigger than his old room that he rented before. And they had renovated the apartment a bit, with not much trouble. Because, contrary to what his brother had believed—when he used to be amnesiac—they still had a lot of money to spare to spend for things like this. As well as to support their livelihood. Heaven knows how surprised he had been when he found out about his brother's hidden wealth—that had surprisingly consisting of; clean money that had nothing to do with his criminal life! He could never imagine what his brother had done in the past in order to raise such wealth. Or did he collect all of the pay he received from his normal work all this time, never spending any while supporting his life using the money he acquired through his criminal ways...

Anyway, that aside... they had remained living in this apartment, partly because he couldn't bear parting with the memory he had with Oyasan while he had still been alive. And Miruku-san would have been lonely, living by herself...

Ainosuke entered the room to find his brother sleeping on the sole couch inside the room. His head had lolled to one side as it gave Ainosuke a good look at the bandage on the side of his brother's forehead. He took off his school uniform and changed into casual clothes before looking back towards his sleeping brother.

He sighed before trying to lift his brother slowly from the couch so that he could have him sleeping on the bed. It was hard, his brother was taller and heavier than he was after all... but he managed to get him on his bed. Actually, it's more like he got _both_ of them on it as he sort of crashed themselves onto the bed.

By now he knew that he should get up to at least prepare some dinner for both of them but somehow... with his brother unconsciously wrapping his arm around his body, he didn't feel slightly obligated to do that. Perhaps he could just take a nap like this. Miruku-san probably gonna cook extra portions as usual and send some to them anyway. At least, let him be for a moment to indulge in a bit of selfishness on his part. Ainosuke fell asleep no sooner after that thought was formed as he relaxed in his brother's embrace.

Little did he notice the arms that had wrapped themselves around his body had slowly tightened their hold on him as both brothers were swept into blissful sleep...


	5. Lost

az: Letting the tensions between the brothers go for now... before getting into the case.

* * *

Atonement

Chapter 5: Lost

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

The loud knocking on the door jerked him awake at once as Yumehito immediately sat up from the bed. He blinked in confusion at the unfamiliar surrounding before recognizing the room he had shared with Ainosuke. He glanced down on the bed as he watched Ainosuke still sleeping beside him. He bit his lips as he ran his hand to brush aside the stray bangs covering Ainosuke's face. Did the kid carry him to bed earlier? He didn't remember going to bed before, he had been reading some of the notes about their case that he insisted Kato to give him to read. After all... he sort of missed half of the meeting. He must have fallen asleep then.

Well... at least his head felt clearer now.

"Ainosuke-kun... Yumehito-kun... are you awake? I've prepared dinner... do you want to join me?"

Yume smiled.

"We'll be out in a moment!" he said cheerfully, the way the former him used to do.

That seemed to satisfy the woman as he heard her walking away from their door. He sighed before the movement beside him made him turn his attention towards Ainosuke.

"What?"

"What would brother do now?"

He raised his eyebrow at the kid as he shrugged.

"Well... considering that I'm not dead, still alive... and living with you; I guess I'd better get used to this life. Bitching about it won't change a thing... and I don't do pointless things."

"I don't mean about tha—!"

Yume placed a hand on his lips to stop him before flicking his three fingers in a shooting gesture.

"_Daijoubu._"

He smiled, though it did not reach his eyes.

"I've already ran out of people to call idiots to anyway. I'm not really happy having to wake up again as _me_, but that couldn't be helped. Life's a bitch anyway but I'll get over that, _again_. Considering you guys had done a lot to keep me rooted here... I guess I shouldn't do anything to ruin what you guys have done—"

"What really happen at work today? There must be a reason as to how you suddenly regain your memories back. What—"

"Nothing happened. I just had one really annoying headache and tried to stop that sensation so I hit my head against a wall. Well, what do you know? I end up regaining_ all_ of my memories. The end."

He started to get up and wash his face as Ainosuke stopped him.

"Did this had anything to do with the kidnapping last time?"

Ainosuke could have sworn his brother had frozen at his statement but when he turned, there was nothing in his features that indicated anything had bothered him.

"I saw it... in my left eye."

Yumehito gave him a dull look as he sighed.

"That eye started to annoy me now. _It really felt like a breach in privacy_. Don't make me feel like dragging you to the hospital to take my cornea back from that pretty eye of yours and make my own sight complete again. Come on, we don't want to make Miruku-san wait for us even longer."

Yume grabbed a clean cloth and wet it before wiping Ainosuke's face with it; before dragging his brother out of the room to eat with their generous landlady, not letting a word slip from Ainosuke's lips for any kinds of complaints that he would want to say.

xxx

Yumehito twitched his nose at the list of suspects as well as the personal data that had been gathered about Kamata. He had to agree with Kato... that particular part about the man having some kind of a monetary problem, did seemed to be related. Made him wonder about the relation Kamata had with the kidnappers, considering that the kidnappers knew where they lived. And probably the schools his kids were studying at as well. Wonder if there was anyone witnessing the boys being taken away?

Or did Kamata somehow gained a grudge from someone for something he'd done in the past? That... sounded probable.

Guess he had to wait for the other officers to return with their own reports on the investigation, as he was stuck here doing paperwork. Couldn't be helped, a minor setback of him trying to break his head and regaining his memories...

He glanced around the office as he watched the rest of the staffs doing their work. He snorted to himself.

What _did_ Kato have done actually to get him back into this place? All these people had known him as Sakisaka before, but now all of them had treated him as if they had known that his real name had been Tanaka Yumehito from the very beginning. Weird... wonder what would Fukuchi think from down under?

Yumehito sighed.

Somehow now, it seemed as if a fresh breeze had swept away the mess that used to be inside his head. He still remembered everything though; just that now he was able to view the events in his past in a slightly different view. It sounded outrageous, yes... but it didn't seem to be out of place. Did that event at that time drove his mind mad? It felt strange... looking back at his own life like this...

A slap on his shoulder set himself on an edge before Yume glanced up towards Kato in surprise.

"Wha—what did you do that for?"

Kato shrugged.

"Because you seemed to be daydreaming just now—"

"Eh, Kato..."

"Hmm?"

"Did you think... the _me_ in the past was insane?"

Kato blinked in surprise at the unexpected question.

"Eh? No... why on earth would you think about that?"

Yume shook his head hastily as he turned back towards the reports.

"Never mind, it was nothing..."

xxx

Perhaps he worried too much. It must have been a shock to him as well. To have to regain his own memories like that, after what they have gone through in the past; must have been hard. Those few months, the two siblings had treated each other as enemies... and now they had lived together as if the past rift had not happened between them. Certainly, it could take time to cope with it... right?

But this morning, aside from the casual greetings... _brother_ had been distant. It was strangely _awkward_. Even before... he had never acted so distant to him like this. Even when brother had appeared before him as Sakisaka. Somehow... this scared him. Same as yesterday when his brother had told him that it was better if he died that time.

Somehow... what was it that had troubled his brother? It must have been the same thing that had driven him to become the genius crime planner. Yet, unlike before... brother did nothing to mask his true emotion from him to hide the real truth inside his heart. The brother _now_ seemed even scarier than the one he went against months ago. Perhaps the same person who had stared coldly towards one of their fallen kidnapper, before he dropped to his knees and started stabbing the man repeatedly until no more blood could be drawn.

Ainosuke wondered about his brother. For some reason this time... he couldn't sense any anger emanating from his brother aside from yesterday. It was more like... there was this intense sorrow that he felt from him. He wanted to hold his brother close, to ease that sorrow... but brother seemed to not want that. Then how... how could he help his brother?

This time... is there a way for him to save his brother?

"Ainosuke... is there something wrong with you?"

Ainosuke turned towards the voice, startled as Kaito Masaki smiled at him. He hastily wiped away the tears that slipped from his eyes as he shrugged.

"N-nothing... it's nothing."

"You seemed distracted all the time in class today."

Ainosuke tried acting surprised at that statement.

"Really... I hadn't noticed."

"Are you unwell? Class almost over anyway, so it should be okay if you want to go to the infirmary now..."

"I'm all right. Don't worry."

xxx

"Honestly... I don't even know what he's thinking..."

Ainosuke paused as he recognized the voice. What was Kato-san doing... at school at this time of the day?

"Kato-san!" Ainosuke called out the moment he entered the room. Sayama-sensei and Kato-san turned their attentions towards him before smiling in greeting.

"Kato-san, what are you doing here?" he asked again.

Kato shrugged.

"I'm off early... and suddenly felt like talking with you guys. What about you? Your class should have finished... in about fifteen minutes still!" he asked back as Ainosuke shrugged.

"I don't feel well..."

Kato seemed surprised.

"You too? I thought something was weird... did anything happened at home between you two yesterday?"

Ainosuke blinked at him before realizing that Kato meant his brother. There wasn't anything much... happening yesterday—eh, what?

"Kato-san! Did my brother... do anything peculiar today?"

Kato shook his head.

"Nope. He was a bit frustrated though... having stuck doing paperwork all day—well, we can't have him walking around on a case with that bandage on his head. But aside of that... he was fine. Though Ainosuke... there's something that's been bugging me all day today."

"What is it?"

"Your brother... seemed a bit distracted. He was asking me a peculiar question today. He asked if I find him before... as crazy. I... not sure of what to answer to that but I have to admit that he used to be a bit eccentric. You know... when he used to be Sakisaka. I can't say much... but what do _you _think?"

Ainosuke stuttered as he was taken aback. Brother thought he was—come to think there was some instance that seemed to indicate—but he never seemed the type to go insane. He had often shove that thought away... because it didn't seem possible that brother could go crazy—and he seemed rational all those times in his evil ways... it's not possible, eh?

But then again...

_"Betrayers should all... die?"_

That time... if there was a point that he would say that his brother was crazy, that time should be it. Because that time... when brother had pointed the gun on his head, he had that mad gleam on his eyes. Though he must have known that the gun was rigged already, but if he had not been forced to throw that gun away...

"Ainosuke?"

Ainosuke turned towards Sayama-sensei and Kato as he shook his head.

"It's nothing..."

xxx

Ainosuke threw his bag into a corner as he glanced towards the empty room. His brother was not yet home. He tried calling his phone, it seemed he had already gone off from the station but did not head home right away. He hadn't answered his calls. Ainosuke wondered about the things Kato had told him earlier.

If those times... brother was really—could it be that even brother hadn't realized it?

Then was it true? What he had thought before... the reason why his left eye had shown him those images and visions—it's because it was a plea from his brother...?

Ainosuke closed his eyes as he tried to suppress the tears from falling again.

"_Niichan_... I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. It really was... my fault."


	6. Wandering Aimless

az: Enough ranting. R&R.

* * *

Atonement

Chapter 6: Wandering aimless

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

Everyone, have you ever wondered? How would you feel to wake up and not recognizing yourself? More so... losing that sense of yourself that makes you who you are? What would you do if you wake up someday and realised... that you had nowhere to go? Neither forward nor backwards—hovering aimlessly in this world without any sense of purpose...

In the end, what are _you?_

xxx

Yumehito climbed up the railings before covering his right eye while staring towards the vast body of water. As expected, he could barely see anything. He sighed as he removed his hand from his face.

Silly kid.

As if he would really pull a stunt of taking back his cornea. Who'd do a stupid thing like that? He glanced back towards the open scenery in front of him before jumping off from the railings.

It has been a while. He couldn't remember how long had it been since he'd taken a walk here... with Ainosuke.

It was amazing, wasn't it? Even if he hadn't really died, it felt like he had been reborn. Was heaven that adamant about him atoning to his deeds? To allow him to feel again, this great sense of being alive—life was so cruel. How could... someone like him live in a peaceful setting like this?

His thoughts returned towards Ainosuke as he recalled the worried look his brother had given him. He sighed.

"What am I going to do with you?" he wondered aloud as he turned around to go back home.

xxx

"**Then what was the purpose of our creation? Why did you create us then?"  
**  
"**It's because the former me had sensed this to happen in the future and tried to stop me by entrusting this fate to you guys! But no matter... I will destroy you with my own hands!"  
**  
Yume glanced curiously towards one of the houses nearby as he noticed a kid sitting in front of the TV in one of the rooms. It was some kind of animated series, yet... the kind of message those kinds of shows give to these children. It's what attracts them, huh? Super heroes...

He continued walking as a random recollection came back to him.

"_It's the left eye..."  
_  
"_Deep down... you must have wanted someone to stop you..."  
_  
"_... that was why..."  
_  
Yumehito snorted.

_Ainosuke... really believed those kinds of things, huh? What a hopeless kid...  
_  
"Please! Lend me some money, I'll pay it back when I can. I beg of you! Hey... we're cousins, right?"

"I already told you no! Just how many times you—oi! Don't make a scene here!"

Yumehito turned his head towards the direction of the commotion as he witnessed the quarrel between the two men. One, a slightly haggard looking man and another, a rough looking fellow but looking slightly well to do compared to the other one. He continued watching as the ruffian started hitting his _cousin_ before it began attracting a crowd. The man suddenly felt conscious of his actions and hastily walked away, leaving the fallen man behind. Just as quickly the crowd had formed, it dispersed as fast as well.

He sighed. That's how people are.

Not everyone was so generous in this world. When there were people living decently at one place, there would surely be those who lived poorly in another. If they were lucky, someone would come to lend a hand. If not... there would be no choice but to fend for yourselves, no matter how desperate the situation was. Humans... were that resourceful, and desperation for one's survival was one of the strongest drive for man's actions.

In desperation, even families could turn against each other. There were no friends or enemies. In desperate attempt to survive, even normal people would try to commit crimes despite how such acts may conflict with their personal beliefs. Those were some of the things he had learn during his time as a crime planner. Things like love, hate... desperation... it was enough to motivate some people into doing things that they usually might have never thought they could do in the past. It was because of that... humans are interesting—

Suddenly a peculiar thought entered his mind. _Could it be possible?  
_  
He glanced at his watch as he realised it was a bit late already. Guess he would have to confirm his theories tomorrow. Meanwhile, he might have to do some bit of researching himself. He flipped his phone open as he dialled Kato's number...

xxx

Yumehito opened the topmost cupboard to find his old laptop that he recalled seeing Ainosuke keep there before. How amusing that he had no recognition about it when he had lost his memories or that Ainosuke would even keep such thing like this still. He placed the laptop on the desk and plugged in the power source. He turned it on and smiled in amusement to note that all of his _locks_ were gone. So, Kokusho must have left this thing behind and the police reclaimed it. Most of his plans stored inside should be gone then.

He stopped himself as he remembered some other things that he had kept in this laptop. Wonder if Ainosuke had seen it... heh, it's not important anymore.

Yume plugged in his flash drive as he opened some of the reports that he had copied back at the office. Considering he was stuck at the office all day, he might as well make use of—

"—brother, you're back!"

He turned to find Ainosuke staring back at him, fresh from the bathroom before the young boy noticed the laptop.

"Ah that—!"

Yume shrugged.

"I remembered seeing you holding this before, back when—why did you still keep this thing?"

"I don't know. But that belongs to brother, right? I don't feel like throwing it away—what're you doing...?"

He hastily closed the laptop as Ainosuke stepped closer before smiling back at him.

"It's just work. And I'm glad you hadn't thrown my laptop away—"

"What is it that you're reading—"

"Like I said, work. Don't worry about me... and don't get big-headed just because you've helped solve many cases in the past. This was still classified stuff."

Yume sighed, as Ainosuke still did not look convinced.

"Look here... how about you take a walk outside and buy us something to eat?"

Ainosuke frowned at him.

"Are you sure? _Niichan_—"

"There's nothing else that I would do that you should be worried about. I've already done what I wanted before... so this time, I'm trying to see if this little bit of karma—would really give me the kind of answer I've been looking for. For allowing me a second chance at life."

"_Aniki...!_"

Ainosuke stopped himself as his brother gave him a stern look.

_It's all right.  
_  
Reluctantly, Ainosuke nodded his head before taking his things and walked out of the room. Yume sighed before returning to his work.

xxx

It's already dark by the time he returned. Luckily for him, the shop that he always frequented was still open. Without hesitation, he ordered two boxes of yakisoba right away. He smiled fondly at the memory... back during the times when everything had been simple. Back during those times, when their parents were still alive and around. They used to be so happy then...

He entered the room to call out to his brother before noticing the man, sleeping on the desk. Ainosuke sighed.

He should have guessed. His brother should also be tired himself. Ainosuke cast a long look at the closed laptop beside his brother. Quietly, he put the yakisoba aside on the small cabinet nearby before opening the laptop.

Thankfully, his brother had only put the laptop on standby so he could still see the files that his brother were working on. He had told the truth, it was about his work as Ainosuke frowned at the details of the case that he wasn't supposed to be reading. He turned to look at his brother before closing the laptop.

"_I'm trying to see if this little bit of karma—would really give me the kind of answer I've been looking for."  
_  
Ainosuke bit his lips as he thought of what his brother had said earlier. An answer. Coincidence? For a case that was so similar to the one that had started the tragedy of their lives—to actually happen just as his brother joined the investigation team—could this be something you call fate? So that explained the things Kato-san had told him earlier...

Kato-san hadn't said much. He only mentioned about a new case they were in and that it interest his brother deeply to want to investigate thoroughly. He didn't mention anything about it relating to a kidnapping incident that so happened, mirrored the one happening to them when he was a child almost exactly. Wonder if his brother had asked Kato-san not to tell him about the case, Kato-san had never been any good at keeping secrets after all...

In any case, it seemed his brother had a personal reason to continue investigating this case and he, as his only remaining relative should be there to support him. In a way, this was also penance for him. For not being able to remember that incident, until his brother had to resort to elaborate means to make him remember. Also for not being able to give him support when he really needed it.

This time, he would do all that he could to support his older brother. So that he could really, return into being that brother that he missed so much. So that he could find back the path that was lost to him once before...

Ainosuke gently shook his brother awake as he reminded him about dinner.

It was another end of the day...


	7. Hide and Seek

az: Contrary of what people think, I'm not really so good. Half the time I find it hard to actually write out the scene as I imagine/planned it. So if in any of the chapters you found no flaws so glaring, well... that's because obsessive me had been editing it like crazy after that.

* * *

Atonement

Chapter 7: Hide and Seek

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

Everyone hurriedly gathered around in the meeting room as Detective Ishikawa made his greeting. It seemed to be urgent at the sound of the tone used, Yumehito had thought. And indeed it was, because Kamata-san had suddenly went missing from the hospital. Every officer in the room was immediately assigned their tasks as everyone scrambled to their jobs.

There was high chance that Kamata would try to off himself inconspicuously, in order to gain a huge sum of money from his life insurance—they had already confirmed that Kamata had one in his name. Still... the amount that he could get from that, it was doubtfully that it could give him enough money for the ransom. Yet, they could not dismiss the notion as desperate people would resort to desperate solution. Thus, several officers had been assigned towards every possible train stations or other places that people were likely go attempting suicides.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group were assigned to search around the places that Kamata had often go, as well as acquaintances. He and Kato were assigned to this other group as they went to the hospital room that Kamata used to stay.

"What do you think we could find here still?"

Yume shrugged as both of them searched every corner of the room.

"I'm not sure. Yesterday I had an idea... and I thought to want to confirm it with Kamata."

Kato glanced up from behind a cabinet as he frowned.

"About what?"

"You know... the other day when you mentioned about Kamata having some problems..."

Kato's eyes widened.

"You don't think... all of this was actually Kamata's doing? That it was all a trick?"

Yume shook his head.

"No. If it was... he wouldn't try killing himself to get the insurance money. Besides... the money would be insufficient anyway—"

"But we've checked around. Even though Kamata had that problem weighing on him, he was not involved with any loan-sharks that we've identified. And I've looked into it. Despite the crisis that they were facing now, because Kamata had been a pleasant employee at his workplace; his employer and colleagues had managed to help out in lessening the burden. There was nothing that indicated Kamata having any debt or anything that would require that amount of money. In that situation, it would be strange to think Kamata would try doing something like this—"

"Kato-san," Yume suddenly stopped him. The man glanced towards him. "Have you checked as to _why_ Kamata had some serious monetary problem at the beginning?"

Kato frowned.

"Was that important?"

He shrugged.

"Could be. It was the reason I had wanted to talk to him today—"

He had been checking the cabinets as something fell out from it. Yume frowned as he picked up the small piece of paper.

"I think we've finally found the reason why Kamata had hastily left this place."

Kato immediately rushed to his side as he tried to read the content of the note.

**_"This is no time to sit idle. Don't you worry about your kids?"_**

Alongside the note was a picture, it was of two young boys. It should have been the picture of Kamata Ryuji (17 years old) and Kamata Shun (8 years old). Yume turned the picture around as a handwritten sentence was written there.

**_"Don't drag along the police anymore. If there were more of them snooping around, they'll die."_**

Kato frowned.

"The kidnappers came here! I'll go ask if there's any log of people coming who could have sent that note—"

"It's useless. If they were careful enough, you won't find any."

"Then what?"

"My guess earlier might be correct after all. At least one of the kidnappers might be close with the family..."

Kato frowned again.

"Eh? What made you think so?"

Yume started pointing back towards the note as he tapped on some of the words written.

"Over here... and this line here, the tone used was slightly informal. The way you would talk with someone you're familiar with. It did not read as someone who was a stranger. And this part here mentioning the kids, it felt more that the writer was actually concerned about the situation. Made me think that it was someone close."

"Then... you think that a family member or a friend might be involved?"

He nodded as he gave the note and picture to Kato.

"But I still think there was a danger to the kids. The one that was written at the back of the picture, I don't think that threat was an idle one. The handwriting was rougher than the one on the note, we might be able to guess what kind of person he was. But most likely this second person was someone who was used to doing bad deeds..."

"You mean?"

Yume gestured towards the picture.

"The older brother looked shaken but it seemed he was staring at another direction from the camera, like towards another person—as if he was trying to say something. But the little one, he had been staring straight at the camera_ in fear_. There must be a reason for that."

"So... the culprit most likely be two people?"

Yume nodded.

"How can you be so sure? Just because the little kid was a bit scared, doesn't mean that—"

"_Ainosuke used to be like that."_

"Eh?"

Yume shrugged at his partner.

"Last time... Ainosuke used to be very afraid of Ikeuchi Kazuya. The younger brother was not much. Even after the man had went out, Ainosuke would keep on crying because he was so scared of that person. So much... that it even annoyed Ikeuchi Tomoya."

He bit his lips sourly at the memory.

"Despite that, Ainosuke had never left his eyes from those men when they were watching us. No matter how scared he had been, he kept staring at them. Even when I tried to get him to look at me... just so I could at least ease his fears, Ainosuke had never stopped staring at them. Either he was so stunned to the point he couldn't move or he was just afraid to look away, I'm not sure about that. I wouldn't say that every kid would behave like that but—"

"I get it."

Yume turned towards him as Kato shrugged.

"You're worried, I can see that. But you also looked slightly relieved?"

The man smiled.

"Ainosuke used to be around that age as well when it happened, so I can relate."

He frowned at Kato's other statement.

"Relieved? Nah... somehow I just feel that we somehow got closer to the case. We appear to have a hint that at least one of the kidnappers were someone close to the family—seeing that the kidnappers knew a lot about them—so we might be able to hope that the kids would be safe for a bit longer. The hint might just be with Kamata."

Kato grinned as he noticed his partner had cheered a bit. He slapped his shoulder before ushering him out to continue on their investigation. Yumehito joined him, leaving the room behind him.

Before stepping out of the room, he sighed.

At least _this_ part of the plot was different. Perhaps he could hope that the outcome of this case would be different as well. For sure, he wouldn't want to see a replay of his own life before him. There was no need for another _Tanaka Yumehito_ to be born...

xxx

Sometime later, at Kisaragi Junior High School...

"Ainosuke... Wait up! Where are you going?"

Ainosuke turned around as Masaki walked up towards him. He shrugged.

"I'm heading to the staff room. I had to pass something to Kitaoka-sensei—"

"Ainosuke..."

Ainosuke cocked his head towards his friend, puzzled by the tone he used.

"If you had some kind of problem..."

"—Masaki, I've told you yesterday... there's nothing—"

"Don't lie. Ainosuke... you've helped me in the past when I got in trouble so at least this time, please let me help you in return. I know I cannot help much... if it's about money—"

"N-no!" Ainosuke started waving his hands at him as he tried to explain. "It's was nothing like tha—"

Suddenly Ainosuke swayed as his head started to feel a bit dizzy. Before Masaki could grab for his arm, Ainosuke staggered behind him as he fell from the flight of stairs behind him. Masaki cried out before going after him hurriedly as Ainosuke's head hit the railings with a loud thud. He hastily helped his friend out as he asked him worriedly.

"Ainosuke, are you all right?"

"I'm okay..." he started to say but Masaki didn't believed it as Ainosuke's face was very pale.

"I better take you to see Sayama-sensei—" Masaki started to say before Ainosuke grabbed him suddenly. His friend was really looking distraught.

"Brother... my brother was in danger!"


	8. Caught in the net

az: It was so easy to make me happy... reviews/comments are addictive. And I kinda envy people who can find suitable songs that can match the series's emotions and made fanvids outta it. So aside from the usual tracks... I had these and J-rock for inspiration. XD

* * *

Atonement

Chapter 8: Caught in the net

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

The apartment belonging to Kamata was locked when they arrived. Upon further investigation with the neighbours, some of them had mentioned overhearing sounds coming from the house even when Kamata was supposed to be away. Mentions of some of the other visits were heard as they made a few more inquiries before leaving the place and moving on to another location.

At the business district near the place, they started asking if anyone has seen Kamata around the area; leading them to a shopping area. Yume paused as he noticed something before telling Kato to go on. Kato arrived at the place as he caught sight of Kamata, working at one of the shops. He immediately dashed towards the man as he pulled him aside.

"Kamata-san! What are you doing here?"

The man appeared surprised having been found by Kato.

"What did you think? I'm trying to save my children! I've tried asking my friends for help... but even with the amount of help I could have gathered, coupled with what I had—I still could not gather that much money at this short time. My injuries were not so bad... and the owner here said they can offer a much higher pay if I don't mind working at a longer hour than normal—"

"But Kamata-san! You should have told us—"

"I _need _to save my sons, Kato-san. Your partner was correct; I was stupid to think of an easy way out. I should have tried harder to save them... while I'm still alive."

Kato smiled.

"My partner would be glad to here that. Still, Kamata-san... it should be best if you could let us help you again—"

"No, I can't—"

"We saw the note, Kamata-san. We know why you've left the hospital hurriedly. Kamata-san, we have some reasons to suspect that one of the kidnappers might have been someone you know. So it might be possible, if we could find out who it was... we might be able to find your sons!"

"But how—!"

His phone suddenly rang as Kato took his phone out.

"Excuse me..."

Kato suddenly excused himself as he answered his phone. To his surprise, it was Ainosuke—asking about their whereabouts. He told them where they were as the young boy sounded urgent and unexpectedly, they happened to be near the area. He told them he'd be waiting for them before turning back towards Kamata.

"Kamata-san, there's something I needed to ask you. We've checked your backgrounds earlier... and noticed something peculiar. We know that you have some kind of monetary problem but can you tell me the reason why? My partner thinks that it somehow had some relation to the case."

Kamata appeared shocked.

"What? That... can't be possible... it wasn't really..."

"Kamata-san! This might be important. Please tell me."

The man appeared hesitant but gradually agreed to cooperate. He started telling him everything as Kato wondered where his partner had gone to...

xxx

"Kato-san!"

Kato turned around as Ainosuke and Sayama Hitomi ran towards him. He turned his attention towards Ainosuke.

"What is it, Ainosuke-kun? What so important—"

"My brother... where is he?"

He blinked before turning his glance around him.

"Come to think about it, your brother hadn't returned for quite some time. We came here together, you know... to find our victim. Just when we're about to see the man, your brother told me to go first since he wanted to check on something—what is it, Ainosuke?" Kato suddenly asked as Ainosuke suddenly fidgeted.

"Where was the place you last see him?"

Kato point out the place as Ainosuke frantically look around him before something caught his eye and ran towards a corner. Kato and Sayama followed behind him as Ainosuke led them towards an alley.

"What is it, Ainosuke—"

Ainosuke hurriedly took out his sketchpad as he showed him his sketches.

"I believed brother was attacked here."

Kato frowned as he took the sketch.

"Attacked—wha..."

He glanced down towards the sketch as he saw the alley drawn almost exactly on the pad before noticing a figure hiding in a corner. He turned another page as he stared at a sketch of a shady person holding up a bottle, in a stance of about to hit someone. Another picture was of two kids being tied up—as Kato recognised the face as the ones in the picture they found earlier. The last page was a rough sketch of a building. He frowned.

"Ainosuke... this, was another of your intuition?"

"I already told you before... hadn't I, Kato-san? What I really saw all those times—those were the things that my brother had actually seen. I'm very sure... brother was attacked here. He must have seen something... or he must have noticed that someone had been following you guys—perhaps the kidnappers..."

"You know about the kidnapping case?"

Ainosuke's face coloured when he asked that question.

"I... I kinda sneaked a look at the files brother was looking at while he's asleep—", he gave Kato a stubborn look before continuing, "—You don't think I should know either, is it?"

Kato sighed.

"But he's worried about you, you know. He had mentioned a lot of things... before. So I thought I should respect his decision."

"I know. I understand... that's how brother used to think. But I don't want to always be the one being protected—this time, I wanted... if I could even help my brother..."

"Ainosuke..."

"Ne... Kato-san, what is this?"

Both of them turned around as they went towards where Sayama-sensei had been kneeling at before he frowned.

"Blood..."

"Yumeto-san's?"

Both of them stared at her as she stuttered.

"I can't keep calling him _oniisan_ all the time... you know?" she said as Ainosuke glanced back towards Kato.

"I wonder..." he started to say. Ainosuke frowned at him as he continued. "There wasn't much blood here, must have meant that Tanaka was only hurt a bit. But since we haven't seen him anywhere... I don't think it was too far to say that they took your brother away with them. I'm not sure why... but we'll find that out eventually."

He turned to look at Ainosuke's worried face as he smiled.

"Don't worry, he'll be all right."

xxx

Yume woke up to find himself tied up and inside some kind of building. His nose twitched as the air around him felt strangely unclean. He scooted a bit around as he saw a young man and a little kid being tied up at another corner of the room. The Kamata brothers. He would have spat at the irony he's in if he could just removed this bloody thing covering his mouth.

So he ended up being caught by the baddies. How uncool. Was this how the former genius crime planner had fallen?

His eyes swerved sideways as he heard people coming. He recognised one of them; the man slightly resembled the older brother a bit. Kamata Ryuuichiro. As he expected, there was a relative being involved. The other person was not someone that he would know. Although he looked like the kind of people, the Buta Tori gang would have associated with. (Come to think... what had happened to those twerps?) It's been a while... but he had stopped contacting them since the last job.

The man lowered himself towards Yumehito as he grinned at him.

"Welcome... detective-_san_."


	9. Suspended Animation

az: I had a prediction that this piece would end on the eleventh chapter. Partially because Yume had already made me write the last chapter already. And I almost fell into despair when LJ suspended my Yume. Thankfully they fixed it. Yet they still did not explain WHY they suspended him.

* * *

Atonement

Chapter 9: Suspended Animation

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

Yumehito blinked at the room around him.

Now that the initial shock was over, somehow... he started to notice something familiar about the room—no, building they were in. Could it be—Yume tried to crane his neck over the assortments of wooden chairs and tables inside the room. The door was closed shut, their kidnappers had left them an hour ago. It was already dark, their captors didn't bother turning on the lights... or couldn't?

He turned towards the corner where he remembered seeing the two boys sat, huddled together. His eyes had started to adjust to the darkness as he finally could see them at the corner. Both of them were asleep—well, there was nothing you can do in this situation.

He sighed.

Wonder what Kato and the others were doing right now? Ainosuke must be worried. Wonder if—could Ainosuke be able to see what he see now?

In the end, would he still need Ainosuke's help to save himself?

xxx

Ainosuke stared blankly around his empty room. As he had thought, that blood really belonged to his brother. They had tried contacting the other officers, it seemed even they had no clue to the whereabouts of his brother. So his brother had really been taken by the kidnappers... and there was nothing he could do to help. Then again, it was not like he could see what his brother could see in the future. So what could he do—it's not like his brother was the one planning this incident, this time. There was nothing he could have done as to solve this case... even more to save his brother and the kidnapped people.

Ainosuke stared at his own reflection on the mirror.

Just what actually... the use of this left eye now?

xxx

When he woke up again, it was almost noon. There was not much change here. Some of the chairs had been cleared away—their two kidnappers must have visited earlier. The two boys were awake as well, and staring back at him. Man, must have made an impression... huh? A stupid cop careless enough to be caught by the very people they were tracking.

The door opened as their captor seemed to want to grace their presence with themselves (again?). Yume couldn't help snorting seeing the brothers' uncle taking off the tape from their mouths and stuffing their faces with meat buns. His attention swerved back towards the apparent leader as the tape on his mouth was removed. Yume stared at him cynically.

"You know... you could have untied their hands to let them eat properly."

The man appeared amused.

"Why? So that they could escape?"

Yume raised an eyebrow at him.

"I doubt the ransom money was even your target. Your real target was me, right? So why don't you let the kids go? As well as that unfortunate uncle of theirs that you happened to trick to become your lackey."

He turned slightly as he noticed the three had now started paying attention towards him. The other man laughed as Yume turned his attention back to him.

"What? Was I wrong?"

The man continued laughing.

"As expected from the famed genius crime planner, Tanaka Yumehito. Am I too obvious?"

Yumehito shrugged.

"I have no comment on that. But the fact that you've _coincidentally_ re-enacted an almost similar situation as the one that happened in my past, attracted my attention. I had been wondering for quite some time about this, it couldn't be happening by chance. _Especially when the circumstances matched almost completely with that case._ That aside, I find it weird that you would actually extend the time limit for Kamata to prepare the ransom money for so long. Normal kidnappers don't do that and they usually target people who actually have the amount of money they wanted."

The man shrugged.

"Of course, I'm no match for you. But even you should marvel at my brilliance. I've captured you after all."

Yume scoffed at him.

"You hardly deserved any credit. You only got me because you made your attack on my blind side. But I have to give you credit on this effort of yours. Because of you, I've regained my old memories. It was a slight inconvenience, but not unwanted. So now that you have me, why don't you release the kids?"

"Why should I? I might as well get the extra dough for all my efforts on capturing you."

Yume's eyes narrowed towards him.

"What did you want me for anyway?"

The man shrugged.

"Who knows?"

xxx

Ainosuke idly sketched a random picture as he let his mind wander. Since the other day, he had received no more visions that could tell him anything about his brother's whereabouts. Somehow, he started having even more fears that this might actually be some kind of a ruse and his brother had returned to his old ways. But if that was true, he _should_ get some more visions... and not just during those times when something had really happened to his brother.

Ainosuke scratched his head.

"Aah! This was annoying!"

"What was annoying?"

He turned to find Masaki beside him. Ainosuke snickered to himself. Since when did Masaki become so much of a busybody?

"Ah! I'm not trying to be meddlesome...," Masaki suddenly apologised as Ainosuke laughed. He shook his head.

"It's nothing. I was only worried about my brother. He went missing since yesterday..."

Masaki frowned.

"I thought last time you said your brother was dead?"

Ainosuke jumped. Ah, he just remembered. He had always kept the thing about his brother a secret, even after the last incident. All about when his brother had been hospitalized and everything after that, he had never told anyone about it.

"Oh that. It's actually a long story. I only _thought_ he was dead before. I guess I forgot to tell you about that."

Masaki nodded at that as Ainosuke was glad that he hadn't asked for further details. Not sure if he could try explaining about it without mentioning that part about his brother's involvement with his mother's case. Before he could think some more about the issue, his phone rang.

"Hello... Kato-san?" he asked as the man apologised for the suddenness.

**"I hope I hadn't interrupted your class or something..."**

Ainosuke smiled over the concern.

"It's okay, it happened to be the break between classes right now. So what's up? Any news?"

**"About that... sorry. Still no news and we're currently preoccupied with Kamata. It seemed that he had received another note telling him to send some of the ransom today but somehow right now it looked like the kidnapper was just playing with us. We've been running around pointlessly, I doubted that the kidnappers really meant it when they said that they'd release one of the kids."**

Ainosuke frowned. But at least, this was better than not knowing anything at all. He thanked Kato for calling before turning the phone off. He shrugged as Masaki looked at him worriedly.

It was not like he didn't believe that his brother could take care of himself. But perhaps... having almost lost his brother before made him paranoid. Ainosuke snickered to himself. Perhaps now he could understand how his brother used to be worried about him before as well...

xxx

Yumehito shook himself awake, to see Kamata Ryuichiro attending to his nephews. There seemed to be no sign of the other man, must have gone to play around with the kids' father. How pointless. But considering that man wasn't around, he might as well try his luck with this one. And lucky also that they hadn't bothered to tape his mouth again.

"Kamata... Ryuichiro-san, I guess?"

The man turned towards him in surprise as he smiled.

"Don't be so surprised. It wasn't so hard to guess. You had a slight resemblance to your brother and I confirmed my thoughts, seeing that those kids weren't so afraid with you. Don't underestimate my detective skills—"

"Who are you really?"

Yume chuckled.

"Everything that you've heard earlier was true but that, right now has no significance to our situation. I've been observing you earlier, and I can tell that you have never committed any crime before. If you give yourself up now, there's still chance for you to turn back. I don't think your brother would press charges on you if he knew you've realised your mistakes. That person was just using you to get at me... after all."

Ryuichiro frowned at him.

"You—!"

"It's because of you, isn't it? The reason Kamata had some financial problems? It wasn't hard to guess... as long as one was resourceful enough to go look. What I don't get was how easily you manage to get influenced by that guy to do this to your own family. Ryuichiro-san, there's still time for you to do the right thing."

The man stuttered.

"W-what... would you know? You don't know anything about me—why do you even want to talk to me about the right thing? You're also in the wrong! You said earlier you're a crime planner! Yet you're also a cop!"

Yume snickered.

"It was true that I _used_ to be a crime planner... and I sneaked into the police force in order to advance my plans. But that was all in the past, and right now... I had a promise to someone that I wanted to keep as long as I could. I'm telling you this... because I don't want either of your nephews to follow the same path that my brother and I had gone through."

He chuckled as Kamata Ryuichiro stared at him dumbfounded.

"Last time, I've killed one of our kidnappers in order to protect my brother. I've felt nothing since."


	10. Racing Against Time

az: Second last. A game of Captain's orders/Senchousama no meirei was like the Japanese version of Simon says.

* * *

Atonement

Chapter 10: Racing Against Time

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

He had been running blindly along some unfamiliar roads. Yet, he knew where he was heading to. He knew it like from the back of his memory. There was no reason, just a sense of urgency that compelled him to hurry up and reach the place. He knew he would regret it if he never make it there on time.

As if on cue, his legs stopped running, He was now standing before a building. There was nothing special or peculiar about the building, except for the topmost room on his right. That particular room appeared to be charred, as if some time ago a fire had occurred there and no one bothered to repaint that particular part of the building after that. For some reason, he wondered why that detail seemed so important to him.

Suddenly an explosion occurred on another part of the building as Ainosuke was pulled to investigate the incident. Although he had no recollection of going to this place before, he seemed to know where to go to find the stairs and corridor leading to the part of the building that had exploded. When he reached the place, the fire seemed to have almost died down due to the sprinklers on the ceilings. He made his way through the rubble, trying to search for something. When he did, he froze. Because right before him, a man had laid sprawled on the floor... covered in ashes and debris. His body was in a bad shape but he was still recognisable from this short distance.

Ainosuke tried to contain his feelings as he rushed towards the figure.

_"Niichan!!"_

xxx

Ainosuke fell from the bed as he woke up, wincing at the pain on his body. It was just a dream... yet like some of his dream in the past; it was not something he would call pleasant. His whole body was drenched in sweat. Even if it was only a dream, it shook him pretty badly. Right now, his only hope... that this dream did not ended up actually happening in the future. Because he didn't want to face a reality where he would find his brother dead, in the same way as to how he had originally faked his death.

He immediately got up to bathe and refresh himself. Today was Saturday and no school. Yet he went to change and set out for his part-time job as usual, as if nothing unusual had happened. But as soon as he was finished, he immediately set out with his bike to head towards the direction of Sayama Hitomi's apartment...

xxx

Oikawa Satoru had been grinning non-stop all morning. It seemed he had been having so much fun yesterday, enjoying the power he had over Kamata Juushiro; who had done almost everything he had ordered him to do, in order to save his son. It's like a game of "Captain's orders" but unfortunately in this game—there was no enjoyment in playing aside from the one giving the orders. As it was, Oikawa had managed to acquire some of the ransom money he had initially demanded; yet Kamata-san gained nothing.

Yume glanced towards Kamata Ryuichiro's direction. It seemed that despite he was also given some of his share of the ransom, he did not looked happy. He just hoped that it meant that at least some of the things he had spoken to that man actually reached him. If it did, perhaps there was still chance for him to turn this situation around to his advantage.

"So how is it, Tanaka-san? Do you want to join me?"

Yume turned to see Oikawa staring back at him. "We could make a good team. I've heard so many stories of your past exploits, they were all so ingenious! I couldn't wait to take part in more of your brilliant plans..."

He rolled his eyes at him, wordless at how big-headed the man thought of himself. Just because he managed to be successful in these petty crimes that he did, he thought he could—he wasn't even a match with the likes of Kokusho, Yoshida-san... or even Noriko. This man...

"I refuse. Haven't I told you before? I've already renounce that life. And even if I didn't, I would still not join you."

Oikawa scoffed at him.

"Haughty are you? Did you like your current life so much then?"

Yume snorted. "Yes. It was interesting. Haven't you looked up on the crime plans that I've made in the past? Didn't you notice that despite the chaos that had been brought about, almost all of the players had ended up being caught? Everyone... had moved the way I had determined them to do. That was the beauty of it, for me to be able to control both sides of the game. For you to not even _know_ about this, you dare to even try to sought alliance with me? Did you not fear that I would stab you on the back?"

The man appeared slightly shaken before recovering himself immediately.

"Y-you! Wait and see! After I get back from getting the rest of my money, I'll give you a lesson you'll never forget. I'll trample on your pride that you held so highly. I'll make you remember your place in this situation!"

With that, the man gave Ryuichiro some orders before slamming the door behind him. Not even affected by such gesture, Yumehito chuckled.

xxx

Never in his whole life had he ever met someone so calm like that person. Despite he himself had been held captive, the man had revealed no sign of fear against Oikawa-san. Despite Oikawa-san being the one in charge, it seemed more that the one being in control was actually that man. How strange was that? Such boldness... can someone be so fearless?

Yumehito turned his attention towards him.

"So how about it? Oikawa should be heading towards the place where your brother was supposed to hand in the rest of the ransom money. He wouldn't be returning here for quite some time. So would you consider it, what I told you yesterday? Even if you turn yourself in, you're most likely to be punished lightly. You still had your future ahead of you to start anew. Think of your nephews at least."

Ryuichiro blinked. In a way, the man did speak the truth. In his rashness, he had never think of his own actions properly. In any case, he had always been in the wrong. Even if his older brother had refused to help him out of his financial debts again, he did not deserve to be treated like this. His nephews had done nothing wrong. He himself should have realize it from the beginning and stop relying on his older brother anymore over his own well-being. His brother had after all, still have to care for his two sons.

He turned around to face his two nephews.

Indeed, he got himself screwed up again... huh? But perhaps this time, he had a chance to do something right for once.

xxx

Ainosuke poke his head from the back seat as the three of them silently observed Kamata from afar. There were other officers stationed at several other points near the park but it didn't mean that they should be lax on their watch. The kidnapper had been so deceitful, he even manage to trick them over some of the ransom without releasing one of Kamata's children. So this time, they would try to follow the kidnapper back to their hideout; in order to save his brother as well as Kamata-san's children. This, was the only thing they could do for now...

Kato glanced at his watch, as they waited for the kidnapper to appear. Several meters from them, Kamata stood at the middle of the park nervously.

"I see someone suspicious coming this way. Sayama-sensei, Ainosuke... stay here. I try to get closer to them, in case the guy tried to attack Kamata."

Sayama-sensei nodded at him as he walked away, just as Ainosuke's phone rang. She glanced towards him as Ainosuke appeared shocked.

"What is it, Ainosuke?" she gasped as Ainosuke looked at her, stunned.

"It's brother..." he gasped before answering the call hurriedly. "Brother! Where—"

"**Ainosuke... stop Kamata from giving the ransom money. The kids are safe now. We—!"  
**  
Ainosuke gave a cry as silence greeted his ears, before staring at his phone in alarm. He glanced towards Sayama before rushing out from the car. He immediately ran as he saw a suspicious man approached Kamata before shouting to Kato and Kamata.

"Kato-san! Stop that exchange! Kamata-san's children are safe now—there was no need to give the money to the guy! Catch him!"

As soon as he finished talking, the man suddenly lunged towards Kamata to force the bag of money he was holding away from him. Kato reached them almost in time as he managed to recover the bag. Several other officers came out of hiding as they tried to corner the lone man. Realising that he was trapped, the man made a wild tackle towards one of the officers before making a run for it among the crowds of people walking around the park. Several of the officers proceed to chase after the man as Kamata turned towards Ainosuke in alarm.

"What have you done, child? My children... how would I—"

"They're safe now—"

"How would you know that, Ainosuke?" Kato asked as Sayama-sensei ran towards them.

"Brother called. He said that Kamata-san's children are now safe—"

Kato immediately grabbed his arm.

"Your brother called? Where—"

Ainosuke shook his head. "I don't know. The call ended just as he was about to tell where he was. His phone had probably died. I have no idea where he could be."

"But you said my boys were all right just now, isn't it?" Kamata asked as Ainosuke nodded.

Kato shook his head.

"This is trouble. That other man had managed to escape from here. He would probably go back towards their hideout after this. So if your brother and the others were still there—"

Ainosuke grabbed his arm immediately as he quickly grasped what he meant.

"Let's go find them, Kato-san!"

Kato shrugged. He didn't need to be told that...

xxx

Yumehito stared at his phone as the battery died on him. He shrugged as he put the phone inside his pocket. Kamata Ryuichiro had already left with the two kids; at least he managed to resolve _that_ part of the case. There was no need to worry about their safety now. Everything was over. He glanced around the room he was in.

He was right; there was no mistake about this place. Even though he seldom walked into this part of the building, he recognised it all the same. It was the building of his old workplace! Funny. Could it be in these few months—or was it almost a year already? That this company had went bankrupt without his knowledge and the building left abandoned? How amusing. To think that there was another _coincidence_ in this story...

Yumehito frowned as he saw something from the corner of his eye. He approached one of the bigger rooms that used to be one of the chemical laboratories inside the building. It was bigger than the ones he had used upstairs, less cluttered as well... and—Yume swore under his breath.

The building had indeed been abandoned but he never expected to see many of the chemicals to still be around and left not disposed. He desperately hoped that some of the more dangerous chemicals he knew had often been handled by some of the labs here were not still stored somewhere around this building. Most especially in _this_ lab. And hopefully—oh dear, he really hoped that the pipelines weren't still—but the other night he thought he had smelled something...

He really needed to get out of here—Yume turned around to find his gun being aimed towards him, with a very pissed off person standing right before him...

xxx

"Hello again."

He managed to sound calm despite his earlier concerns, surprisingly. The man standing before him was not so pleased though.

"You've ruined my plan."

Yume smiled.

"It appeared so. Then again, it was so easy..."

"You're really into being a real cop now, aren't you? I never expect someone like you to do this."

He laughed.

"Someone like you can never understand the way my thoughts go. So you're better off not trying. That aside, I actually found that it was really enjoyable... being at _this_ side of the law."

Oikawa spat at him as Yume glanced at his back. They were at the ground floor, thankfully. But it seemed his escape should involve going through the lab and out of the window, considering the other alternatives were blocked and he can't really be reckless with his life right now.

Still, the laboratory... the chemicals... the risks. This was some kind of a dangerous situation, eh?

"You disappoint me, Tanaka Yumehito—"

Yume managed to swerve just in time before the bullet even graze his sides as he rolled to his side. Without hesitating, he dashed towards the laboratory he had just walked out of as the man behind him chased after him. He dove past some of the chairs and tables, as even more bullets were fired and missed him. He swore again as he came face to face with some of the chemical racks in the laboratory and noticed some of the labels on the chemical bottles. Peroxides... as well as other volatile reagents, he noticed also that some of the bottles had precipitations inside of them.

He hurriedly dove to the other side of the room as Oikawa threw a chair towards him. It missed him by a meter as it hit the racks, to which Yume immediately ducked for cover as he heard the sound of glasses shattering and bottles breaking. It was almost simultaneously followed by a blast of explosion as even more glasses shattering around him. Yume tried to move towards the side windows as the explosions caused them to break. He was about to jump through the window before even more of the chemicals exploded by chains of reaction; until his eye caught something he had not expected to see...

A small reactor, and it was placed so near to those other chemical racks that he had no doubt contained even more of the same chemicals that had just exploded from the other corner of the lab. Oikawa suddenly let out a mad scream before started shooting at him wildly. Yume ducked for cover as some of the bullets ricocheted all over the place. And some off them had ricocheted towards the direction he most dreaded it would go...

His mind blanked. Suddenly everything started to move in slow motion as his thoughts hovered towards only one person.

Ainosuke.

xxx

"The kids were now at the station, their uncle had given himself up—"

"Kato-san! Was my brother with them?"

Kato shook his head.

"I didn't hear anything about that at all—"

Suddenly Ainosuke was hit with a strong sensation on his left eye as he cried out. It surprised Sayama-sensei so much, that she accidentally hit the breaks hard. Everyone was thrown from their seats as Ainosuke hit his head on the window. She hastily turned around towards him to ask if he was okay. Ainosuke glanced back at her in alarm. Because suddenly he had this intense fear of something dreadful about to happen.

"Sensei! We've got no time left! We must hurry!"

Kato turned around at him as well as he exclaimed.

"But we don't know—"

"I KNOW WHERE HE IS NOW! Sensei, we must hurry!" Ainosuke cried again as he told them the place. Sayama immediately hit the gas as the car made an about turn towards the direction of Yumehito's old workplace. Ainosuke bit his lips as he prayed for his brother's safety...

"_Please be safe... Niichan!"_


	11. Ghost of Hope

az: In the end, both me and Yume failed to be a complete sadist at making people wait on that cliffhanger. (And still people won't review me much, anyway) R&R please, because seriously-seeing-so-many-people-from-different-IPs-reading-my-stories-made-me-curious.

And to think some other people posting craps gets a lot because they sock-puppeted, hostaging chapters and whatsnot. World is unfair. (In the end, haha... I've decided to repost some of the comments I got on LJ, just so I wouldn't lose their encouraging words in case someone pulled another trick onto my Yume again.)

* * *

Atonement

Chapter 11: Ghost of hope

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

Ainosuke bit his lips as the car breezed past the narrow road until they've finally caught sight of the abandoned chemical lab.

Just as they got out of the car, a loud explosion erupted from the lower section of the building as the three witnessed the scene in stunned silence. Ainosuke stared at the scene wide-mouthed before a rash thought overcome his mind.

"Brother—!"

He was about to run towards the burning building before Kato caught his arm.

"Ainosuke, don't! It's dangerous—"

"But my brother—"

"Ainosuke...?"

Both of them froze before Ainosuke turned towards the voice, as his older brother stared back at him in a daze while dragging an unconscious man behind him. He released the man behind him as Yumehito walked slowly towards his brother, unsure of what to do. His face and clothed were covered with soot as Ainosuke noticed that his left shoulder had been shot. He appeared to suffer some minor burns as well but overall he was okay. Ainosuke immediately ran towards him before embracing his brother tightly.

Kato and Sayama-sensei smiled at them as Yume chuckled, finally snapping out of his daze.

"Silly. Stop crying... you crybaby. I'm all right. I'm right here."

Ainosuke furrowed his brows as he continued to hug his brother tightly before replying.

"I can't help it. I thought... I really thought I would lose you again—"

That hit him deeply as Yumehito bit his lips hard. He returned the embrace just as strongly before nodding his head vigorously.

"I know. I'm sorry. I really... I'm so sorry, Ainosuke."

Both of them collapsed to the ground as Ainosuke pulled away to see his brother crying earnestly before him.

_"Aniki?"_ he asked as Yume continued staring towards the ground.

"I'm really sorry... for everything. I really—"

Yume looked up towards his brother as he spoke. "Honestly, Ainosuke... this time, I was really scared to think I might not be able to see you again."

He cupped his brother's face with his hands as Ainosuke stared at him, puzzled.

"Last time... I used to regret for not being able to tell you that I was sorry. Heh... even after my memories returned, I still couldn't tell you. I've kept myself busy all this time, hoping someday I could properly tell you... despite I still couldn't muster any courage to do it. I thought perhaps, when I found another reason to continue living... perhaps I would tell you my true feelings."

Ainosuke blinked at him as he continued to listen.

"But just now... just before the second series of explosions occurred—my thoughts become blank. I suddenly thought about you, I don't want to lose you again... I don't want to die. Ainosuke, I really... _really_ love you. So much... I'm sorry that I've hurt you so much in the past—"

Ainosuke shook his head as he kissed his brother's cheek.

"_Niichan_, it's all right... I'm not really—"

Hitomi suddenly noticed the man lying behind the brother had started to get up before approaching the brothers. She cried out when the man raised a knife towards them before Kato raised his gun at him. Ainosuke gasped as he saw the man standing behind his brother. Seeing Ainosuke's reaction, Yume immediately realized that Oikawa must have regained consciousness...

A loud bang echoed around the area as Yume felt his heart skipped a beat. He heard a thud behind him as he turned and glanced towards the fallen man behind him. Kato's aim had improved so much...

He sighed before turning back to see Kato and Sayama kneeling beside them.

"Are you guys all right?" Kato asked as Ainosuke nodded slowly. He turned his attention towards Yume as he shrugged. Kato stared at him with concern, seeing him looking so pale. "Tanaka, are you sure you're okay?"

He would have said something to ease their worries but a dizzying sensation had fully taken over him as he collapsed. Kato hastily caught him as Ainosuke looked at his brother worriedly.

Sayama-sensei started checking his pulse before turning towards her student to reassure him.

"Don't worry, he had only passed out."

The young boy sighed in relief as he watched her while she attended to his brother.

"We need to bring him to the hospital quick," she said as the rest of the police team finally arrived to the scene. Kato nodded as they left the place, letting the rest of the officers to handle the rest. Finally, the case came to an end...

xxx

Hitomi and Ainosuke turned around as Kato greeted them while closing the door behind him. He waved a plastic bag with several boxes of bento at them before smiling.

"I bet you guys were hungry...," he said before noticing the worried look on Ainosuke's face, "What is it?"

"Kato-san... I'm worried."

Kato cocked his head at him as he waited for him to continue speaking.

"Brother had still not awakened since yesterday. What if, he'd lost his memory again after this? The other day... he had been hit on the head again, right?"

"T-that... don't say something like that..."

"But Kato-san! You know... they always show these kinds of stuff on TV..."

"Sayama-sensei! Don't tell me you that believed that too? Don't think about all those nonsense... Tanaka should be fine—"

"Kato-san! My brother had fainted yesterday—"

"There was an explosion before that! And you've forgotten he had been shot. Your brother was not a super hero, Ainosuke... even he would collapse after all that—"

The three of them hastily straightened up as Yumehito let out a soft groan. He winced a bit when he tried to move his left arm as Ainosuke helped him to sit up from the bed. He turned his attention towards the three as Ainosuke smiled at him.

"How are you feeling... brother?"

Yume frowned.

"Who?"

Hitomi let out a gasp as Ainosuke paled. So it was as he had feared...

"Ainosuke-kun..."

Kato was not sure of what to say to the young man in front of him. Just when it could have been a start of a new life for the two siblings—he glanced towards his partner who continued to stare at Ainosuke's face. To his surprise, his partner suddenly grinned.

"What was that? I'm just kidding. Like hell I'm gonna lose my memory that easily...," said the man as Yume started laughing very loudly.

Kato and Hitomi stared at him in shock as Ainosuke glared back towards his brother angrily.

"Wha—you... brother! You're so evil! You so... how could you make a bad joke like this!" he cried out before he started crying again. Yume smiled as he pulled his little brother in an embrace.

Ainosuke made a loud sound as he snapped, slapping Yume's left arm; causing the man to cry out in pain.

"I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry! But I can't help it. I overheard what you guys had been talking earlier, and I couldn't resist teasing you. You should stop being a crybaby so much. Then I'll stop."

"Liar. You were laughing at me. You're evil. Really... really evil!"

Despite he was in pain, Yume managed to smile.

"I know... but that's because I loved you so much."

It was an unexpected scare but after a while, the effect wore off as Kato and Hitomi joined in with the laughter. It seemed that all of the tension in the air had completely disappeared, that even Yumehito seemed a lot more cheerful than before. The sun... had finally started to shine brightly again. It was really, finally a good happy ending...

xxx

The day had been sunny as the brothers visited their parents' grave. It has been a while since they've visited this place together. Ainosuke smiled as he glanced towards his older brother.

_Everyone, anyone out there who could hear me. Right now, do you have your family with you by your side? I have too. _

_There was one... very important person, the only family that I still have with me. A very kind person, very smart also... that was my very cool older brother. Even now, he had continued watching over me beside me. As always..._

_He had always been... my guardian angel..._

Yumehito turned his attention towards his brother as he cocked his head.

"What is it?"

Ainosuke grinned.

"Unn, it's nothing. I just thought brother was very handsome. I'm so glad I am your little brother."

He could swear his older brother had started to blush when he looked away before he leaned on his side. He smiled as his brother slowly wrapped an arm around him, despite the inconvenience it caused.

"Silly. Sweet-talking me won't get you anywhere. I won't treat you extra bowls of udon after this even if you begged for it."

Still, Ainosuke continued to smile...


	12. Epilogue: New Day

az: R&R. Because this epilogue came by itself after that.

* * *

Atonement

Epilogue: New Day

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

o

o

"Ano... is Tanaka Ainosuke in this class?"

Ainosuke paused as he turned towards the door as his classmates turned towards him, while talking to someone standing beside him. The young man was much older than him and the school uniform was different than theirs. He had never met this person before... so why did this person came to look for him?

He nodded towards the person as Ainosuke picked his bag up and walked out with the person.

"Sorry to suddenly appear in front of you like this, but I feel like I want to at least meet you for once. That's why I took an early leave from my school and come here to see you."

Ainosuke frowned at him. "Umm... thanks? But I still don't understand, do I know you from somewhere?"

The older boy chuckled nervously. "No, we've never met before. Actually, I came here... to ask about your older brother. I'm Kamata Ryuji," said the older boy again as he held out his hand.

"Tanaka... Ainosuke," said Ainosuke nervously as he shook Ryuji's hand. "Err... pleased to meet you, Ryuji-san... but why did you want to see me for? You could actually see my brother yourself at the station."

Ryuji shook his head. "I can't possibly ask your brother myself. Because I don't think... your brother would feel comfortable about it. I would too... if someone had wanted to talk about the same thing to me."

That got his attention as Ainosuke cocked his head at him.

"What actually did you want to ask me about, Ryuji-san?"

The older lad snorted.

"Can you tell me what happened when both of you had been kidnapped last time?"

Ainosuke gave a cry at the unexpected question as he slowly nodded his head.

xxx

"No! You don't really have to mind me... I don't really mind waiting here—"

"What're you talking about, _oniisan!_ It's not like we're _that_ strangers!"

"N-no... it's okay..."

"_Aniki?"  
_  
Both Hitomi and Yumehito froze before turning their attentions towards Ainosuke and Ryuji and straightened themselves up. Hitomi hastily let go of Yume's arm as she pretended that nothing had happened. Ainosuke grinned as he walked up towards his brother.

"It's been a while. Are you here to pick me up?" he asked cheekily as Yume grinned.

"Of course. It's been a while since the last time I did... so I kinda missed doing it. Can't I?" he replied as sweetly before turning towards Ryuji.

"Hadn't expected to see you again, Ryuji-kun. What brought you here so far from your school? How's your family anyway?"

Ryuji shrugged.

"We're fine. Chii-chan would be in prison for a while right now but he seemed to be well. Shun wanted to see you again one day."

Ainosuke stared at him curious as Ryuji fidgeted with his fingers. He glanced up towards his brother as Yumehito smiled.

"I... Yumeto-san, it's nothing. I've just wanted to come here. I've been wondering last time... when you've talked about your brother. I can't help wanting to meet your brother myself."

Ainosuke noticed Yume's grin went wider as he finally spoke.

"So, did you found what is it that you've been looking for here?"

Ryuji nodded. "Yes, I did. Thank you for your help last time. I think I've finally understand what you've said that day. Thank you again."

The lad excused himself before walking away as Yume sighed.

"Now that's over, we'd better be going home as well."

Hitomi suddenly exclaimed aloud as the brothers turned towards her in surprise.

"Can I join you guys as well?" she said as Yume laughed.

"Aren't your place on a slightly different direction than ours, _sensei_? It's already late, perhaps you could come another day? I'm sure you'd also be needing some rest. Or do you not?"

Hitomi blinked in confusion as Yume grinned some more. "Yes, I know where you lived... _for a very long time_. Now, _sensei_... we'll be fine going home by ourselves. Unless of course you're worried about something else—"

"Ah, n-no! I'm fine... _and I'm glad you're fine too_—I guess I'll come visit some time later then, huh? I better go home too!" said Hitomi hastily as she walked away hurriedly to find her car. Ainosuke couldn't help noticing how Sayama-sensei's face had turned scarlet and she had been pouting. His brother had appeared amused as well. Yumehito turned his attention towards his brother as he shrugged.

"I've handled that so nicely, haven't I?"

Ainosuke couldn't help noticing how cheeky his brother had sounded when he spoke those words...

xxx

"So _aniki_...what really happened that time when you've been captured by those kidnappers?"

Yume glanced sideways towards Ainosuke as he shrugged.

"What did you two talked about earlier?"

Ainosuke sighed.

"Nothing much. Ryuji-san asked me what happened to us during that case, eight years ago. _Aniki_... was what Ryuji-san said about the real reason they had been kidnapped was true? That the guy was actually aiming after you?"

Yume turned his head towards him briefly, before he continued walking.

"Yeah. I don't get the reasoning though. Then again... it used to be the same back during the time Kokusho Akira had been out and about. The crime world had often made such big deal about that—over who's the big boss over there and whatnot. I find that boring... after a time."

Ainosuke frowned.

"_Aniki_... have you ever thought of returning to that world?"

"Hmm? No."

Yumehito let out a long sigh.

"The only reason I had even thought of entering that world was to use the resource of _that_ world in order to proceed with my plans. Aside from that, I have no interest in it."

Ainosuke bit his lips.

"Then, if I haven't forgotten about that _time_... would you have not chosen to become a crime planner?"

Yume paused in front of him as Ainosuke heard his brother sigh.

"Perhaps. Perhaps I would still do it anyway or perhaps you could have stopped me earlier. Things like that... it was hard to determine. Regardless, I would still be burdened by the very fact that I had killed that person. In the end, our lives would still not be normal."

Ainosuke felt his heart tighten as he could sense the heavy emotion his brother was showing. He slowly crept behind his brother and hugged him from behind. Yumehito smiled at the gesture as he placed his right hand over Ainosuke's arm.

"I guess this is why I could never hurt you badly. Having Ainosuke around had always made me feel good..."

"I'm sorry... _niichan_. If only I had remembered..."

Yumehito smiled as they continued to walk slowly with Ainosuke still clinging from behind him.

"It could not be helped, I guess. You were still a child, that time."

He chuckled a little as Ainosuke's face tickled his back before he pulled his brother to his side. He ran his hand over his brother's hair as he sighed.

"I guess this time, we really have to try starting everything anew. This was our second chance, wasn't it?"  
Ainosuke nodded as Yumehito smiled.

"Come to think... earlier, brother really looked good with Sayama-sensei."

"Eh?" Yume turned to see Ainosuke grinning at him cheekily. "Eh—what? Aino—what is that you're suddenly thinking in that mischievous head of yours?"

Ainosuke continued grinning.

"Well... brother was already at that age—you should already be thinking about getting married. Besides... it's not like you're not so handsome or something—"

Yume laughed.

"Cheeky little kid. Unfortunately, my little brother... that scenario is unlikely to be happening any time soon. That teacher of yours was already a bundle of trouble. Aside from her debt problem, she used to punch you relentlessly. Not something I would be looking forward to for a wife."

Ainosuke grinned. "But that shouldn't be a problem, isn't it? It's not like you don't have a lot of money—Miyamoto-san had told me about it, during the time you've been in a coma—and I saw what you did earlier. _Sensei _seemed to follow your every word."

The older brother snorted.

"That's because I _know_ she would not listen if I said_ no_ to her. That teacher of yours had that curious habit of hers after all. Once you know that about her, it wasn't so hard to play around your words when talking to her."

"See? You're so _made_ for her!" Ainosuke started to insist as Yume laughed again. Certainly he had forgotten how obnoxious his little brother could be when the situation calls for it.

Ainosuke smiled as he watched his brother laugh. It made his heart soar to see his brother so cheerful. As he thought, his brother's smiles are the best! He wouldn't want any other expression adorned his brother's face. He wouldn't want to see this beloved face cry or be adorned with sadness. If possible, he wanted to make his brother happy always.

"_Your brother had once said to us... that he had a promise to someone that he had wanted to keep with his might. That was the reason he gave to my uncle when he questioned him about doing the right thing."  
_  
For some reason, hearing that from Ryuji-san about his brother had warmed his heart. His brother, was trying so hard to start a new life with him. So he should not lag behind in his own effort as well.

That, was his promise.


End file.
